Bee Yourself

In Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Species, bees are one of the mysterious creatures he pays careful attention to in his work. I do not bring up Mr. Darwin to hypothesize about his theory of evolution or even to talk about Mr. Darwin himself. I only want to point out that since he was from England and lived from 1809-1882 that would make him the epitome of a Victorian naturalist.

Victorians loved to collect things. They especially like to collect treasures from nature. By collecting these things it showed their power and wealth over the places they already owned or had conquered. (Imperialism at it's finest.) I found an excellent article about it if your interested in knowing more about the Victorians mindset concerning this idea. http://project1.caryacademy.org/1851/images/home%20page%20stuff/curio_cabinet_essay.htm

Now, I'm not sure if I'm ready to start putting dead birds under glass or anything, but I do like this idea of displaying nature in the home. So to run with this trend I searched high and low till I found these nature inspired salt and pepper shakers on e-bay that are both elegant and whimsical.



They are tiny silver bee hives with golden bees perched on the outside ready to lift off at a moment's notice.

I am having a bit of trouble with the salt hive because some salt from the previous owner has hardened like molten lava on the inside of the opening. Still haven't figured out how to get it out but I will. Even if it kills me. You hear that stubborn salt. I WILLLL! Ok enough drama. Hold out for fun salt and pepper shakers. They'll make you happy every time you look at them. I know mine have. :D

Rene's Recommendation:

Pandora Internet Radio
http://www.pandora.com/

Do you ever get tired of listening to the same music over and over. When all you hear is your own music, music on the radio, music on tv, music outside clothing stores, music coming from rolled down windows as people drive by?

Ok, well, on second thought that is a lot of music. But if you're looking for a little more variety I would recommend Pandora. You can create your own "stations" and even though you don't have control over specific songs you can discover some great artists that aren't necessarily mainstream. It's like the motherload of all that's shuffle! (Just f.y.i. you can skip through songs you don't like but there's a limit per visit for that. I learned that the hard way. ;) As for myself I've found that it adds a bit of spice to my work day! Happy listening!